The present invention relates generally to medical implant compositions, and in certain aspects to malleable medical implant materials, such as putties, useful as carrier materials and/or bone graft materials.
A variety of materials have been suggested for the treatment of bone defects. In addition to traditional bone grafting, a number of synthetic bone graft substitutes have been used or explored, including several putty materials. To conduct bone through-growth effectively, implant materials derive benefit from the presence of substantial scaffolding material. Such scaffolding material must be combined in a composition that handles effectively during and after implant and in the case of carriers for growth factors such as morphogenetic proteins, the overall composition benefits from an effective utilization of the protein to promote or induce tissue growth through the scaffolding material.
In view of the background in the area, there exist needs for improved putty materials which maintain the desired combination of malleability and cohesiveness as well as exhibit the ability to conduct bone growth based upon native signals at the implant site and/or to effectively administer an added signal molecule at the implant site. In certain aspects, the present invention is directed to these needs.